Pakistani scientist alive, in custody

WASHINGTON - Five years after her disappearance, an MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist accused of belonging to an Al Qaeda cell based in Boston, is alive and in custody in Afghanistan, her family's attorney said yesterday.

"It has been confirmed by the FBI that Aafia Siddiqui is alive," said Elaine Whitfield Sharp, a lawyer for Siddiqui's family, who said she spoke to an FBI official on Thursday. "She is injured but alive, and she is in Afghanistan."

Accused spy targeted because he's Jewish, report says

A Detroit-area military engineer accused in 1997 of passing secrets to the Israelis was targeted because of his Orthodox Jewish faith, the Defense Department's Office of Inspector General said in a report.

The report said David Tenenbaum, 50, of Southfield, who was suspected but never formally charged with espionage involving his job at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren, was singled out because he is an observant Jew.

Tenenbaum's lawyer, Mayer Morganroth of Southfield, said the bogus investigation prompted the Army to scrap Tenenbaum's 1995 project to improve the armor on Humvees, a decision that proved fatal to American troops who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan in woefully inadequate fighting vehicles.

"The discrimination in this case ended up costing American soldiers their lives," Morganroth said.

Morganroth's associate, Daniel Harold, said Tenenbaum's persecutors "have blood on their hands."

Tenenbaum and his lawyers said the report proves that he was innocent and the victim of anti-Semitism.

Hamas' Christian convert: I've left a society that sanctifies terror

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says at the outset.

Masab knows that he has little hope of returning to visit the Holy Land in this lifetime.

"I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God."

Saudis to Christians: Get out!
Those accused of worshipping in homes ordered deported

More than a dozen Christians in Saudi Arabia who were accused by government officials of worshipping in their homes have been ordered deported.

According to a report from International Christian Concern, the Christians will be expelled tomorrow for their part in a home worship service in Taif in April.

The deportation conflicts with the message stated just weeks earlier by Saudi King Abdullah, who called for interfaith dialogue and held a summit in Spain with a representatives from several major religions.

"Deporting Christians for worshipping in their private homes shows that King Abdullah's speech is mere rhetoric and his country is deceiving the international community about their desire for change and reconciliation," said Jeff King, the president of ICC.

Coup demonstrations in Mauritania

Demonstrations have been taking place in Mauritania both for and against the coup that overthrew the country's first democratically elected president.

Police in the capital, Nouakchott, broke up a protest by hundreds of people against the coup leader, General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz.

Earlier, about 1,000 people had marched through the capital chanting the general's name. The African Union has demanded the president's release.

President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was detained by renegade soldiers on Wednesday after he tried to dismiss four senior army officers - including Mr Abdelaziz, the head of the presidential guard.

Pakistan Government Seeks to Oust President Musharraf

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's coalition government said it will impeach President Pervez Musharraf, nine years after the former army chief seized power in a bloodless coup.

The nation's two largest parties ended five months of infighting and said they are united and have enough votes to oust Musharraf. An impeachment, unprecedented in Pakistan's 61- year history, would remove a central figure in President George W. Bush's "global war on terror.''

"God willing, we will have the numbers,'' said Asif Ali Zardari, head of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the coalition's leader, in remarks to reporters. He added that the coalition parties "have the courage and we have the political will.''

Judge Orders Detroit Mayor Jailed

DETROIT — Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick was sent to the county jail on Thursday and will spend at least one night there as punishment for violating his bond.

Mr. Kilpatrick is fighting perjury and other felony charges, but has refused calls to resign. Judge Ronald Giles of the 36th District Court in Detroit ordered that the mayor be jailed because of a visit he made on July 23 to Windsor, Ontario, on the opposite shore of the Detroit River, for what he said was city business.

The mayor’s lawyers sought an immediate appeal, but the Circuit Court judge who will take up the matter put off a hearing until Friday morning.

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Are you prepared for an emergency?

Do you have a family emergency plan, meeting place? Do you have a three-day supply of food and water? Do you have an evacuation kit ready to go?

According to emergency preparedness officials, these are just a few of the things every household should have at the ready in the case of an emergency. Unfortunately, many Americans are not prepared for the unexpected, whether it is a chemical spill down the street, a house fire, a pandemic or a hurricane.

Mexico City poor plant vegetables to lower food costs

MEXICO CITY: Under the rule of the ancient Aztecs, Mexico City was a maze of canals and floating gardens that grew corn and beans to feed the masses.

Hundreds of years later, the government of this concrete metropolis of 20 million people is promoting urban vegetable gardens as a way to ease the burden of soaring food prices faced by poor families.

Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, who is behind a string of crowd-pleasers like cycle lanes, artificial beaches and an outdoor ice rink, has sent groups of gardening experts out to build community gardens.

Over 20 urban vegetable patches have been planted since last year, some in areas formerly used to dump trash, and the city government wants to build at least 20 more.

"We see this as a pilot project that could explode across the city," said program director Pedro Ponce, an agronomist.

OPEC plans no output increase for winter

President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chakib Khelil, has ruled out the possibility of a rise in crude output.

In a recent speech, Khelil said OPEC will not consider increasing oil production during the winter unless it sees a significant rise in demand.

Manager of Webb's Roanoke office found dead

ROANOKE -- An aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., was found shot dead beside a Botetourt County road yesterday morning. A gun was found beneath his body.

Botetourt investigators are not calling Frederick Wayne Hutchins Jr.'s death either a suicide or a murder, saying they are awaiting autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office in Roanoke.